What do you mean!
by WaterMimi23
Summary: An eventful winter solstice includes, reading some books about Percy Jackson, lots of questions, and some secrets that are going to be exposed. A typical reading the Percy Jackson series with gods, demigods, and an occasional mortal or two. Welcome and good luck in the world of Percy Jackson!
1. Athena Does A Wrong

Athena's POV

On a particular sunny, yet cold afternoon Athena was beyond her mind bored. 'Was this how mortals feel everyday?' She asked herself. There was nothing for her to do. As Athena walked around in her favorite library-The Library of Congress she considered her options. She couldn't read any books- she had read all the books that were in the world- she couldn't talk with anybody- they were all to busy preparing for the winter solstice meeting- as usual Athena had prepared last week when she was bored. This solstice was going to be like any other boring to the last second. With a lot of fighting, of course. It was winter of 2000; Hades would be attending the council and the brothers would have a lot to discuss. More truly spoken- a lot to fight about. Athena sighed. She had 'watched' one of her daughters- a promising four-year-old girl named Annabeth Chase this morning and knew she shouldn't again. Usually Athena would just read. Several books would be coming out tomorrow; if only she could jump ahead a day or so. Athena glanced around and saw she was alone. As she headed around the corner to double check she was alone she heard the kids on a field trip chattering. Perfect. 'December 22,' she thought- concentrating real hard, downstairs a boy shouted, "But I'm12!" With that a flash of light engulfed Athena.

Athena reappeared outside the library with heavy snow falling to the ground around her. There had been no snow in the forecast for mortals but Athena knew how weather worked and decided that after the council meeting it was always unpredictable. She hastily made her way inside and took of her elegant yet practical coat and hung it up. She was just about to make her way to the fiction section when something caught her eye. In the corner near the children's section a display shelf held tons of new books. In bright neon letters stood, "The gods are alive! Welcome to Percy Jackson's life…" She froze whirled around and looked at the books. The Lightning Theif, The Sea of Monsters, The Titan's Curse, The Battle of Manhattan, and The Last Olympian were the titles. As casually as possible Athena flipped over the back of each book and read. It was all about their world! In a blink of an eye she grabbed a copy of each and headed to check out. This would be an interesting council. Whichever god or demigod spilled and told those foolish mortals would pay- big time. She gave the lady behind the counter her card and the lady frowned.

"Madam- this card is 12 years out of date- I do believe you need an update."

"Oh- I must of pulled the wrong on." Athena always kept her old cards in her pocket and being the immortal goddess of wisdom she happened to have a lot of those cards.

Athena made a current library card appear in her pocket and pulled it out. The lady nodded and smiled. She put the goddess's books in a bag and thanked her. Athena hurried over to the newsstand-the date scared her. December 22 all right, but year 2012. She had traveled twelve years in the future! Quickly Athena concentrated and flashed back to Olympus; to the year 2000; hugging those books closely.

Zeus's POV

"Silence everyone! Take your seats. Are we all present?"

I glanced around the room- Athena was late. How strange. Just then Athena flashed into existence looking scared out of her mind. I raised an eyebrow. She dropped about 5 children's books on the floor.

"These are from 2012," she explained. "They are about us."

I lost it. "You traveled forward in time! Athena! You of all goddesses! I thought you would have more sense.

Poseidon muttered, "Well you thought wrong- like always."

I glared as Athena butted in, "It was an accident, Father. But these books are so close to the truth we must figure out who will write them and punish them."

"You can not change fate. Athena has done wrong. These books are true- the stories real. You may read them, but you may not change them. The future will continue on as it is."

Cautiously I opened my eyes and groan inwardly. Three old ladies with knitting bags stood before me talking in unison. The Fates. Who else?

There was a giant flash and before us stood over a dozen children- all looked about 17. A single girl was crying- she had blond hair curled and knotted in a-I don't care right now kind of way. A female with short blank hair and the crown of Artemis on her head rushed over to calm her down.

Again the Fates spoke in unison, "Read the books- time has frozen until you finish. More might come in the future." They turned to the demigods, "Share your parent, tell the gods as much you want. It stands on your account."

I blinked. They were gone. "Introduce yourselves and we will explain the situation."

A girl with stringy brown hair approached with her hand in a boys, maybe they were siblings or they were dating, "Clarisse La Rue, Daughter of Ares. Cabin 5 head counselor."

Ares looked really confused now but I didn't pay much attention to him. "Chris Rodriguez, son of Hermes." Hermes looked shocked. Maybe from the fact that his son was dating war god's daughter or I have no idea.

Twin looking boys stepped up. "Conner and Travis Stoll. Sons of Hermes. Cabin Leaders." They alternated their turns speaking making it confusing to follow who was speaking. Hermes made a strange sound something between a gag and a growl. "Stoll, Rodriguez. How?"

"Katie Gardner, daughter of Demeter. " Demeter widened her eyes.

"Nico di Angelo, son of Hades." I whirl around. Hades looks shocked. "I'm eighty or so. Lotus Casino."

"How did you get out?" Hades looks scared.

"Long story."

"Malcolm, son of Athena." Athena's eyes narrowed.

"Thalia Grace, Lieutenant of Artemis. Daughter of Zeus."

My eyes popped out. "You- you're only!" Before I could finish a blonde haired boy with bright blue eyes stepped up. Oh no, it couldn't be. What would he be doing with a bunch of Greeks!

"Jason Grace, son of Jupiter." Poseidon raised his eyebrows but wisely kept silent. Hera was fuming. "How dare you! And from the same mortal mother! Ugh and to think you would change."

I looked away and gestured for the kids to continue introducing themselves.

A seventeen year-old girl with bright red frizzy hair stepped up. "Rachel Dare- oracle." Apollo grinned and said, "Beat that Hades- I get a new host body." Rachel backed up into the wall and stared.

"Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite, cabin leader." Aphrodite looked up. She study Piper with keen interest and nodded contently.

"Leo Valdez- son of Hephaestus. Also cabin leader." He was Hispanic with a wild look in his eye. If he was at all frazzled to be on Olympus he didn't show it.

"Grover Underwood- satyr, and Lord of the Wild." How crazy does the future get?

"Tyson; son of Poseidon." He's a Cyclopes- go figure.

The girl on the floor crying got up. She whipped the last tears of her face and looked around. "Annabeth Chase- daughter of Athena. And why did you umm- you know change everything back." She looked hurt and confused.

Athena stood up angrily, "You are 4! I was just watching you." The girl- Annabeth stared, "I was born in 1995- therefore I am 17."

"It's only 2000!" An awkward silence spread over the crowd gathered. "Err hate to correct you but it's 2012." The boy Leo said. He was building something out of rubber bands and paper.

Time travel. It was the only option. I sigh. "Fine- lets read these stupid books."

The son of Athena was sitting next to his sister- Annabeth. He perked his ears up at the word book. The girl doesn't. Strange. My daughter sighs and walks to the center of the throne room where she grabs the books. She seems to study the titles. She glances over her shoulder at Annabeth and reads, "Percy Jackson and the Olympians."

Poseidon walks over and looks at the other tites. Thalia seems totally normal with this. Malcolm looks at Annabeth with pity. Yikes. Demigod drama. This was going to be a long night- day- days- weeks- month- maybe even years!

**Well- here it is, just the very beginging but if you read and review, follow, and/or favorite the sooner the next chapter will come out. Thank you to child of Hermes-god of Stealth for helping me. Hope you all like it!**


	2. Since When Does Olympus Have Guest Rooms

Thalia's POV

It's hard to see Annabeth so down. She's been like this ever since Percy was kidnapped. And now- I see Hera, who's fault it was completely. It's really hard to keep my cool. Poseidon was reading the titles over my shoulder. I guess he knew about little Percy. Athena still looked stunned about time traveling and Zeus was trying to calm Hera down. She was fuming. Aphrodite looked bored and Hermes and Apollo looked terrified that this council meeting would last for 5 books. I guess even in their immortal lives nothing like this has happened. I sigh.

"I'll read first- okay." It was more of a demand than a request but I don't care.

"**THE LIGHTNING THIEF" **I pause dramatically to annoy everyone.

**"1 I ACCIDENTALLY VAPORIZE MY PRE-ALGEBRA TEACHER" **

The Stolls look up, "accidentally," Conner repeat. "Are you sure it was an accident- cuz Percy would totally do something like that on purpose." Travis nodded in agreement.

Annabeth was glaring but Malcolm pushed her lightly and gestured their mom. Ohh gods. Athena didn't know. She was going to go nuts when she found out that Percy and Annabeth were- you know, dating. This would be a long winter solstice.

**"Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood." "**No one does, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth said in a wistful tone. I quickly read on before any of the gods notice.

**"If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is:" **

I was about to comment but Nico beat me to it. "Percy giving out advice! This is like- another lifetime. He would never." "Just no one listen to it- or even worse actually follow it okay?" I add in for my part. The gods look at us a little crazy but I don't care.

**"close this book right now**." "That's horrible advice!" screeches Athena as the Stolls yell, "that's great advice!**" "Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life." **"Too late to follow that now," Chris mutters.

**"Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways." **There was a lot of nodding and agreeing on the demigod part here.

**"If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened." **The Stolls are literally drooling with envy. Gross! Aphrodite says, "Who would actually read. For fun." Athena sighs like it's a hopeless cause and Piper looks pained.

**"But if you recognize yourself in these pages—if you feel something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before ****_they _****sense it too, and they'll come for you." **There's a tense silence in the room. The gods beginning to realize how it is for a demigod and the demigods recalling their first attack. No one comments afraid to break the tension. I read on.

**"Don't say I didn't warn you**." "Wow- nice way to loosen the tension Percy," Zeus says laughing. Wait until Dad finds out that Percy Jackson is a son of Poseidon.

**"My name is-" **I was rudely interrupted by a Stoll- Travis I think saying, "Its umm- Sam- No was it Carl- ugh no- It is Percy!"

**"Percy Jackson." **"Called it."

**"I'm twelve years old. Until a ****_few _****months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school" "**What happened- I mean he can't get kicked out can he?" Athena looked generally concerned for the boy**. "for troubled kids in upstate New York."** I continue. Athena looks disgusted and Annabeth is frowning.

**"Am I a troubled kid?" **"Yes," everyone chorused leaving the gods wide eyed and waiting for more.

**"Yeah. You could say that." **Annabeth laughed, "He even admits it! Big-time blackmail."

**"I could start at any point in my short miserable life," **"Your life will not be short- and it is certainly no longer miserable!' Annabeth declared. "How would you know so sure- unless you were part of it." The Stolls were dead meat. Annabeth went wide-eyed then in her I will strangle you as soon as the gods leave face. Poseidon was successfully masking his worry and Athena had raised an eyebrow.

**"to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan— twenty-eight mental case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus," **"What other color are school buses?" Rachel inquired.

"**heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff." **Katie and Malcolm along with Athena, Demeter, and Hephestaus grinned.

**"I know—it sounds like torture. Most Yancy field trips were." **Athena gagged and Demeter looked shocked. Annabeth rolled her eyes and laughed while the gods and demigods nodded in agreement.

**"But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes. Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep."** Again Athena gagged and cried out, "Whose child could this be?" Annabeth raised an eyebrow and I heard Malcolm whisper, "Your Greek lessons never put him to sleep either."

**"I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble. Boy, was I wrong." **"He's always wrong- isn't he," Leo observed and Jason looked at me for clarification. I glanced at Annabeth and said, "Let's just say he's not a son of Athena- but he can be smart." Athena nodded, "Definatly not my child! Thank the gods." Annabeth nodded along with Tyson.

**"See, bad things happen to me on field trips." **"Bad things always happen to Percy," Clarisse said.

**Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. **"He also as a lot of accidents," Rachel added. Tyson nodded, "A lot," he repeated.

"**I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway." **Athena was gapping, "He- no way- he couldn't have! No. Impossible." Hermes and his sons were grinning and laughing. Artemis looked disgusted. "Boys."

**"And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim." **Poseidon was laughing and Artemis looked like she might need a bucket. Athena was still in denial. "There is no way on Earth- and Olympus he can be that stupid. Unless he's your son of course, Poseidon."Poseidon shifted uncomfortably but didn't make a comeback. Athena didn't notice though.

**"And the time before that... Well, you get the idea." **"Oh-man, his third grade field trip story was the best!" Annabeth cried out. "Tell us. Tell us. Tell us," Chris and his half-brothers started chanting and Apollo leaned in but Annabeth just shook her head-no.

**"This trip, I was determined to be good." **"At least he tries," Hera commented doubtfully.

**"All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl," "**Not me!" Rachel cried out when everyone looked at her. "Oh no Nancy was much worse," Grover comforted her."How do you know?" Athena questioned. I read on before Grover could answer.

**"hitting my best friend Grover" **Athena nodded.

**"in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and ketchup sandwich." **Aphrodite looked disgusted and Grover shuddered from the memory. "Come her satyr," Aphrodite commanded. Grover obeyed. She had him turn around and around until he almost fell over. Then she smelled the air. "All clean now." Tyson frowned. "No more peanut butter?"

**"Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE**

**for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny," **I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing. Grover gapped at the book. Malcolm clutched his stomach. Soon all the demigods were rolling on the floor laughing and the gods were too. Only Grover stared in shock at the book and Tyson still upset that there was no more peanut butter. Grover took the book from my hand and read the part for himself. "Some best friend," he muttered.

**'like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria." **"You really need to work better on disguising yourself," Athena scolded.

**"Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death," **Poseidon started coughing and Annabeth went real pale. Athena was looking back and forth between her daughter and her rival trying to figure them out. I simply laughed and read on**.**

**"by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip." **This time Hermes went pale. "No entertainment at all!" Annabeth reassured him, "Knowing Percy, it willl still be entertaining."

**""I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.**

**Grover tried to calm me down." **Well if I didn't he might have actually killed her so of course I tried to calmed him down." Clarisse nodded, "Key word- tried."

**"It's okay. I like peanut butter."" **Tyson brightened, "So do I!" Then he went over and sat right next to Grover.

**"He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

**"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

**"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."" **"Ohh-ohh let me guess this- lets see. No not us. Or Nancy. Grover? Nope. Percy! Percy Jackson." "How did he get on probation?" Demeter asked. "No. You know what- I don't even want to know.

**"Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into." "**How bad cab this get?" Poseidon asked worried for his son. Zeus raised an eyebrow and Hades looked serious. "Is there something you need to tell us Mr. Wettie?" Poseidon looked nervous, "What no! I mean, ugh. Just read already." Hades and Zeus exchanged a glance but gestured for me to continue.

**"Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.**

**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery. **"That's amazing," Malcolm and Athena agreed. Athena turned to face Annabeth and Malcolm. "Have you two been there?" "Yes," Malcolm said and Annabeth looked lost in thought. "Mhh- ohh yeh, of course. Sally took us in September. That was great." "Who is Sally?" Athena asked at the same time as Poseidon raised an eyebrow and said, "Sally?" I decided it would be safer to read on.

**"It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years. He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a ****_stele, _****for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye." "**Oh- she's evil," Athena growled. Annabeth looked distraught too but for a different reason- she knew who Mrs. Dodds really was.

**"Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown." **At this point everyone was disturbed by Mrs. Dodds and had decided she was a monster of sort. Hades was thinking real hard but no one noticed.

**"From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month." **"Harsh teacher." Apollo looked scared. "That lady needs more sun. Where does she live? Hell?" Hades must have realized who it was and he blushed.

**"One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."" **"Wow real smooth Grover," Clarisse said. "Who is it?" Grover still upset from her comment stared and said, "Your absolutely gonna have to wait." Burn!

**"Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you ****_shut up_****?"**

**It came out louder than I meant it to." **"He might actually have more accidents than me.." Leo commented. Jason raised an eyebrow, "That would take a lot." The god of Fire started to look a little nervous.

**"The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

**"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?" My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"**

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it." **"That's impossible," Travis said in mock surprise. "Percy actually knowing something!" Conner finished. Annabeth was going to kill them as soon as the gods left.

'**"That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"' **"Oh-that scene," Hera complained, "why is it always that one? I mean after thousands of years- they just don't let it go do they? Those foolish mortals." Rachel looked offended.

**""Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he ****_did _****this because ..."**

**"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and—"" **"That little thing did not just! I am the king god!" Zeus went of on a rampage. Bellowing and thundering making the throne room shake. Athena yelled for silence and he calmed down.

**""God?" Mr. Brunner asked." "**Mr. Brunner is very nice," Nico commented. "He also sounds so familiar." Malcolm banged his head against the wall and Annabeth stared in disbelief.

**""Titan," I corrected myself. "And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"**

**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me."" **Hestia walked in the room and looked around. "What are you reading? And who are these children. And why are they sitting on the floor. Please- Hermes get them some beanbags. Are you hungry dears? We will have dinner soon." Zeus explained the situation and Hestia asked, "Who is Percy's father?" "We don't know yet," Poseidon answered a little too quickly. Once Hestia pulled up a stool and the demigods rearranged their chairs they sat down. Annabeth sat next to me with Rachel on her other side. Jason, Piper and Leo sat beyond Rachel in their own little group. On my other side sat Nico, the Stolls, Chris, Clarisse, and Katie and Malcolm. Tyson and Grover sat In front of me. We formed a small circle inside the U-shaped council hall of the gods.

**""—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."" "**Of course we did! What else would you expect," Zeus cried out. Jason sent me a look like- is he really our dad?

**"Some snickers from the group.**

**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.''**

**"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"" **"Well, if you're a demigod; which I'm sure he is, then it is his life," Ares said bluntly. "But how would Mr. Brunner know that- unless he is also a monster…" Athena considered the option while all the demigods who knew the truth behind Mr. Brunner/Chiron stared. 'What kind of option was that!'

**""Busted," Grover muttered.**

**"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair." **"Is that possible?" Leo asked. Grover shook his head and horns, "Nope Perce just likes to exaggerate things."

**"At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears." **"Monster," Athena murmured, "But why would he be on Percy's side?" Nico was still trying to place Mr. Brunner. "Ohh!" he cried out. "Is he you know," All the demigods nodded while the gods looked even more confused.

**"I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**

**"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"" **Aphrodite looked sick. Hera and Hestia along with the big three were groaning at the memory and Hermes cried out, "How is that a happy note! This mortal is just about as bad at changing subjects as Chiron!" Annabeth and I were trying hard not to laugh and Nico was smirking. Jason sent me a confused look. I read on.

**"The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses." **"The male gender," Artemis said with hatered and I had to agree.

**"Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson." I knew that was coming.**

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?" Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything." **I paused waiting for someone to put the pieces together. Athena did. "Ohh! That is Chiron isn't it!" Annabeth nodded. Nico looked please that he figured it out before the wisdom goddess. Boys!

**""You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

**"About the Titans?"**

**"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**

**"Oh."**

**"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."" **"Harsh," Chris said. "Percy has no idea whats going on and Chiron- wow."

**"I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever ****_lived, _****and their mother, and what god they worshipped." **"Well that is a little difficult I suppose," Athena gave in. "A little!" Apollo cried. "That's like! I can't even do that!" "There are a lot of things you can't do, brother." Artemis was asking for trouble. I sighed. I was only going to read one chapter- that's it.

"**But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else," **"Your better than anyone else," Annabeth complimented her boyfriend only to then realize he wasn't actually here. Surprisingly enough it was Clarisse who helped her out of an awkward silence. "Yeh- except me maybe." "And me!" Her dad cried out. Grover and Annabeth exchanged a glance. Hadn't Percy bet Ares or something? When he was twelve. I hope that gets covered in this book too.

**"despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C— in my life." **Athena started chocking. She turned to Malcolm and Annabeth. "Please tell me neither of you are this things friend." Malcolm shrugged and Annabeth simply said, "Not anymore." Athena looked please.

**"No—he didn't expect me to be ****_as good; _****he expected me to be ****_better. _****And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly." **"Of course not," Poseidon sighed. "I can hardly spell my wife's name. After all this time."

**"I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral." **"He probably was," Katie stated. While Athena nodded, "I was, too. My daughter after all."

**"He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in." **All the gods turned to Zeus and Poseidon. "Future me!" they cried out at the same time. "Still," Hera mumbled.

**"Nobody else seemed to notice." "**Ignorant mortals," Hades said like it explained everything. Rachel huffed and Annabeth laughed.

**"Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing." **"Key word- trying," Hermes said, "Not my child." "Speaking of children," Athena started, "Who's child is this? He can't be Ares- he has to much of a heart." Ares nodded in agreement. "Nor is he mine. Or-" "You'll figure it out eventually Annabeth interrupted. "That will be a lot of fun." She whispered the last part to her self.

**"Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from ****_that _****school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

**"Detention?" Grover asked.**

**"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius."" **"He is a genius. When it comes to stupidness, and stuff like that." "Not true," Annabeth hissed to the Stolls.

**"Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?" I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it." **'Wow- that was sooo- you Grover." I teased. He blushed and tried to deny it. I wouldn't hear of it.

**"I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me." **"Wimp," Ares complained and Athena went back to deciding his parentage. "His mother is mortal- so that eliminates, Demeter, Aphrodite, and me- since Artemis and Hera have no children anyhow. Also since he has a satyr he will end up at camp alas it cant be Hades. What about you Dionysus, you've been rather silent." Dionysus leaped up and said, "What- ugh, don't tell me we are still reading. I was trying to sleep through it. I mean errr, step through it?" Athena glared and sent a watch owl to sit on his throne.

**"Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table." **"No- my motorized café table has a rainbow umbrella," Leo corrected while Hephaestus nodded- obviously pleased with his son's accomplishments.

**"I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap." **"Was it peanut butter," Tyson asked, his one eye growing hopeful while Grover shrugged.

**""Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper."" **"How many times has he been to the school counsler," Poseidon asked trying to look casual. Grover shrugged, "Four times a week if he was lucky- four times a day if he wasn't." Poseidon nodded a faked smile glued to his face.

**"But I was so mad my mind went blank." **"He is a good friend," Hestia commented. "And boyfriend," I heard Annabeth say next to me. Athena stared, "And a bad friend too." Annabeth rushed on trying to repeat the statement but Aphrodite had her eyes on her. Athena decided that Annabeth meant bad friend and let it go.

**"A wave roared in my ears." **"And he's a son of Poseidon," Annabeth blurted out. All eyes turned to Poseidon who was whistling a tune. "What- ohh. Yeh, bout that. Peruses Jackson. Yeh fine- he's my son.. Umm- where exactly is he. Umm- not died I hope!" And all Hades set lose. Zeus was hollering and Poseidon pointed to Jason and me. Athena was warning her children that if they ever set foot near him she would kill him. Demeter was waking Dionysus who hit Ares with some wine when he jumped up. Ares Leaped up and drew sword. Artemis was mad at Poseidon and arguing with Apollo that of how irresponsible the god of the seas was. Apollo was wining the fight. (Amazing isn't it!) He was constantly pointing to Jason and me. Aphrodite was still staring at Annabeth while Hera attempted to calm Zeus. Rain, water, thunder, and some dead people leaped into chaos. Malcolm was scolding Annabeth and she was about to cry. Piper and Rachel were comforting her. The Stolls were filming the entire thing. Chris was holding Clarisse back from attacking her father after he stepped on her hair by accident. Jason was staring in shock at the gods and only Leo seemed unfazed. Hera sent a pleading look to Hestia who silenced the gods and demigods within a minute. "Just keep reading," she directed to me. For a second I saw Dory from Finding Nemo as Hestia chanting, Just keep swimming, just keep swimming but just keep reading, just keep reading! It was hard not to laugh.

**"I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"**

**"—the water—"**

**"—like it grabbed her—"" **Zeus groaned. "How old is he? 12? And he doesn't know he is half blood yet? And he can already control water? Subconsciously!? He's the end of us. The Last Olympian- isn't that the title of the last book. Yup- thought so. He will kill us all." Annabeth looked like she was going to explode and Poseidon glared. Just then five more books fell to the ground in front of me. I picked them up and read the titles. "The Lost Hero," Before I could finish Annabeth snatched the Lost Hero out of my hand and flipped it over. She growled and threw it at Jason. "It's about you," was the only explanation she gave. I glanced at the second one and brightened. "The Son of Neptune," I handed it to Annabeth and she read the back. She passed it around and it came to me last. It was about Percy. I gave her a brave smile and read the next one. "Mark of Athena," Annabeth read the back. "Strange- this is about the future." "House of Hades and the last one doesn't have a title yet." Athena didn't look so good anymore. All the color had drained out of her face and she looked almost lifeless.

"What do these even mean?' Zeus complained.

"At the very least- Percy won't destroy the world and umm- we have five more books to read."

Apollo, Hermes and Dionysus passed out.

**"I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again. As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—"**

**"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks." That wasn't the right thing to say." **Poseidon leaned in with anticipation and suddenly Hades didn't look so good either. Hermes woke back up. "Never guess the punishment," he said goagily. All the demigods were leaning forward or cowering backward covering their eyes.

**""Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. ****_I _****pushed her." I stared at him, stunned." **Everyone stared at Grover. Annabeth gave him a thankful smile. "How bad can the monster be," Athena complained. "It's not like his first kill is a Fury or the Minotaur or Chimera." Annabeth and Grover stared in shock then turned back to the book.

**"I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death." **"Who is she!" Poseidon turned his focus to Grover. I read on as fast as possible.

**"She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled." **"Nice description," Apollo laughed just awaking.

**""I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**

**"But—"**

**"You— ****_will_****—stay—here."**

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

**"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

**"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. " ****_Now_****." Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare." **"That's a really good smirk," the Stolls complained and everyone who had seen it nodded abstinently. 

**"Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

**How'd she get there so fast?" **Poseidon was literally shaking, gripping the thrones' arm rests so hard they might fall off. Even Athena and Artemis looked worried.

**"I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things." **" I'm not so sure about that, Seaweed brain," Annabeth muttered so only the inner circle or demigods could hear.

**"I wasn't so sure." **No one even commented that Annabeth and Percy said/thought the same thing.

**"I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel." **"I will kill that novel!" Poseidon wasn't looking to well. "This is why I don't read," the wine dude commented with a yawn. "You miss out in things anyhow," Tyson said. "Burn," Chris murmured but no one really cared.

**"I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop. But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**

**Except for us, the gallery was empty." **No one dared breath. Annabeth had tears streaming down her face and Clarisse was squeezing Chris's hand so hard it was a grape shade of purple. Katie, Rachel and Tyson had their eyes closed. Leo was shaking and Piper was leaning into Jason's arms. Travis and Conner were staring straight ahead. Nico wasn't scared for himself- but for Percy. I kept reading.

**"Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling." **Aphrodite was staring at Annabeth trying to figure her out and thankfully Athena hadn't noticed. She was still trying to figure out who Mrs. Dodds really was.

**"Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it..." **Hades gulped and everyone felt bad for Percy.

**""You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."" **" He was actually polite," Nico commented and Annabeth let out a small chuckle, "One for the record book."

**"She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil." **"He notices a lot," Aphrodite commented picking the coloring of her nails with out even noticing it. "But sometimes- sometimes he notices nothing." Annabeth said sadly. 'Yeh,' I think, 'it took him 5 years and then…'

**"She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me." **"You wish," Demeter, saidclutching a grain of wheat so hard it snapped.

**"I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."**

**Thunder shook the building." **Zeus gulped under Poseidon's death glare.

**""We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

**I didn't know what she was talking about." **"Of course not- there is no way he can go the suffer less pain way- is there?" Leo grumbled.

**"All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room. Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on ****_Tom Sawyer _****from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book." **Annabeth laughed, "He read it anyway." Athena was too scared to comment. Even if it was the sea god's son she felt bad for him.

**""Well?" she demanded.**

**"Ma'am, I don't..."**

**"Your time is up," she hissed."**

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons." **Poseidon turned slowly to Hades and Hades smile nervously, "Future me?"

**"Then things got even stranger." **"How.."

**"Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air. Mrs. Dodds lunged at me." **I paused for a second to catch my breath. "Read!"

**"With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day." **"Riptide," Poseidon nodded still shaking. He wasn't safe yet.

**"Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword. She snarled, "Die, honey!"**

**And she flew straight at me.**

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. ****_Hisss!_**

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

**I was alone." **" He lives!" Poseidon cheered. "And now the worst part of his life is over! Right?" "Annabeth gulped and said, " It depends how bad you would consider, umm, a couple titans, Kronos, and err a lot of other- close in counters?" Poseidon nodded. "Yeh. Never mind. Those are bad, real bad."

**"There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something." **Grover smiled sadly, "You wish." Suddenly Zeus snapped his head up. "Hold on a second. Kronos!? He fights Kronos? And he's still alive? Is he- is he the child of the prophecy?"

Annabeth squirmed in her chair, " Umm- yes, yes, I don't know, and yes"

"What do you mean- I don't know? Is he alive or not!" Poseidon was gonna flip.

"Annabeth closed her eyes and said," More like missing in action."

"Which quest is he on?"

"He went to sleep, and now he's gone."

"That's an easy quest," Dionysus yawned. Poseidon was silent. Annabeth hugged he knees and tried hard not to cry. Athena hadn't noticed how much the entire missing thing affected Annabeth- she was still in too much shock about Kronos.

**"Had I imagined the whole thing?**

**I went back outside.**

**It had started to rain.**

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."" **"Who?" everyone asked.

** I said, "Who?"**

**"Our ****_teacher. _****Duh!"**

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about. She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

**He said, "Who?"**

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

**"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."**

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved. I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

**"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

**"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher." He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"" "**Well- that's it."

Zeus nodded, "Should we read more or rest first?"

We voted that we wanted to sleep than continue. Hestia showed us the guest rooms, since when did Olympus have guest rooms is what I wanted to know! There was one for each god- including Hades. It was pretty simply. Katie went to Demeter's and the Stoll's and Chris slept in Hermes's. Clarisse had Ares's all to herself and Rachel used Apollo's. I chose Artemis's so Jason could use Zeus's all to himself. Malcolm went in Athena's by himself first- giving Annabeth some alone time. Leo and Piper went to their godly parent and Grover, being god of the wild had his own. Tyson- not wanting to sleep by himself went with Grover. Soon it was just Annabeth and I in the hall. All the doors were closed except Poseidon's and Artemis's. Hera's had never been opened and neither had Mr. D's.

Annabeth whipped her face and I shocked her. On accident, of course. She glared at me and I smiled, "Your going to have to either tell your mom, or get a better grip of yourself."

"I'd rather wait. I'll be able to do this." Then she went into Poseidon's room and closed the door. I shook my head. She will never learn. I told Malcolm where Annabeth would be sleeping, went into Artemis's and crashed on the bed.


	3. Whatever Your Not Telling Me-Tell Me Now

Malcolm POV

"Malcolm, Annabeth, wake up!" I leap out of bed. "Breakfast in the throne room in 15 minutes." I tell Hestia I'm coming and get ready. I can't help but think about Annabeth. She slept in the Poseidon guest room last night instead of in here. I mean- sure it's her boyfriend's and as much as it grosses me out it reminds her of him in some way, it does. I'm afraid she'll lose it and Mom will found out. We have to read 10 books, and the books might even- go over some details of their relationship. In his point of view. Gross. As funny as his thoughts may be, I don't really want to know how he thinks about my little sis. I just hope that doesn't happen for a while. I head over to the throne room and see Annabeth already there. She's inspecting the architecture of the place and I can see she's calculating some thing. Even for a child of Athena, Annabeth is really smart.

She sees me and immediately asks me what I think about the way the keystone is small compared to the other stones and if I think it looks better than the way she did it. I'm about to answer when the gods walk in. Annabeth and I bow and then take our seats. Or whatever you call them in a bean-bag. The other demigods come in soon after and the food is served. Dozens of nymphs and harpies bring the food in and place it on two long tables. One table for us, the other for the gods. I'm sure the gods is all flavored ambrosia and ours is simply food- or at least I hope so.

"Fill up your plates," Athena instructs, "and we will read while we read. Anyone want to read." I raise my hand. Athena tosses me the book and gives us all plates. I grab some waffles and eat quickly. Annabeth sits next to me and Thalia is on her other side. I scan the demigods and see we are all sitting pretty much where we sat the day before. I start to read when everyone is sitting.

**"2 l THREE OLD LADIES KNIT THE SOCKS OF DEATH," **followed by an awkward pause. Grover groans, and everyone stares at him. He turns real pale and gestures for me to read.

**"I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twentyfour/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me." **"Poor Percy," Katie says, and I have to agree.

** "The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr—a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip—had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas." **"Ahh, the Mist is a wonderful thing," Zeus comments and Poseidon finishes off, "Unless it covers something so horrible. Like Hades' Fury." Hades starts whistling and looks away.

**"Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho." "**That could be mildly irriating," Dionysus slurs. That guy grosses me out.

"**It got so I almost believed them—Mrs. Dodds had never existed.**

**Almost." **"Let me guess- it was Grover who couldn't fool him," Hermes complains and I chuckle.

**"But Grover couldn't fool me." **"Called it."** "When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying." **"I hate lying," Grover complained and Hera nodded. "Lying and cheating are horrible things. Especially, when you cheat on your immortal wife. After making an oath never to do it again." Thalia is looking really uncomfortable by now and Jason is shifting in his seat not meeting anyone's eyes. Poor guy.

**"Something was going on. Something ****_had _****happened at the museum." **"Well duh- a Fury- who defiantly needs more sun- attacked you. And you killed it." Apollo was still trying to give the Furies sunlight it looked like.

**"I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat." **"I hate demigod dreams," Conner complained while Annabeth whispered, "Poor Percy."

**"The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room." **"Ouch- that's gotta hurt," Chris muttered.

** "A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy." "**Does everything have to happen by him?"Poseidon complained. I wish my mom cared that much for me.

**"One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year." **Poseidon scratched his back uncomfortably and Zeus was rubbing his knee.

**"I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs." **"Athena started choking on her breakfast ambrosia.

** "I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends."** "More fights are better," Ares supported.

**"I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class." **Athena looked ready to pass out.

**"Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good." **Athena passed out. Poseidon raised his eyebrow, and Annabeth rolled her eyes.

**"The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.**

**Fine, I told myself. Just fine." "**How is that fine!" My mother bellowed. "Sarcasm," Clarisse explained.

**"I was homesick." **" Wimp," Ares complained, "How does this guy get 10 books written about him. And why do we have to read them?" Yikes someone is whiny.

**"I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties. And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The viewof the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little strange." **"Here we go again," Grover mumbled.

** "I worried how he'd survive next year without me." **"HEY! You probably put me in more danger that I put myself in." 

**"I'd miss Latin class, too—Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well." **"He'll be seeing a lot more of Mr. Brunner. That is if he survives until camp." Hermes immediately regretted saying anything. Poseidon groaned and a pool of water started forming at his feet. The ocean levels must have sunk at least a foot.

**"As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for." **Athena gulped and shocked her head in disbelief.

**"I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him." "**Of course you did- you're not that stupid," Nico remarked.

**"The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the ****_Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology_**** across my dorm room." **"That is it!" Athena cried, "This boy will suffer. It is almost as bad as if he dated one of my daughters." The demigods laughed nervously and Poseidon saved us. "He is my son after all. You naturally hate him."

** "Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon," **"Just remember that Chiron is your teacher and you will meet Charon when you die," Hermes suggested. "Or before that,' Annabeth groaned quietly.

**"or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it." "**He can now," Rachel reassured the hyperventilating goddess of wisdom also known as my mother.

**"I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt. I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. ****_I will accept only_****_the best from you, Percy Jackson._**

**I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book." "**What is he going to do," Tyson asked nervously, his one eye full of concern for his brother.

**"I'd never asked a teacher for help before." **Athena groaned again.

** "Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam." **Demeter looked disgusted**. "I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried." "**He knows you tried," Piper reassured Percy.

**"I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor. I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said ****_"... _****worried about Percy, sir." I froze." **Grover grumbled a complaint.

**"I'm not usually an eavesdropper," "**I'd like to hope not," Hera stated and Artemis sighed. "What more would you excpect from the male gender. I decided it was safest to read on.

**"but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult." **"Umm- Jason would never do that," Leo said, taking the dare seriously.

**"I inched closer.**

**"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the ****_school_****! Now that we know for sure, and ****_they _****know too—"**

**"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more."**

**"But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline— ****_"_**

**"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."**

**"Sir, he ****_saw _****her... ."**

**"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that."**

**"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."**

**"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall—"" **"Harsh," Aphrodite scolded. "Chiron should know better."

**"The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud." **"Of course it did," Hades scowled, "What other sound should it make?"

** "Mr. Brunner went silent.**

**My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.**

**A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow." **"Chiron! Out of your chair- with bow drawn! How dare you," Hermes teased.

**"I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.' **"Smart move," Jason decided.

**"A few seconds later I heard a slow ****_clop-clop-clop, _****like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on.**

**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck." **"Gross," Aphrodite complained.

**"Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."" "**What happened on the solstice?" Zeus inquired, but no one answered him. Poseidon decided to try his luck, "Does it have to do with Percy?" No answer. "Great, just great."

**""Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ..."**

**"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."" **"Wait uo," Leo said, waving a banana in his hand, "Do satyrs have to take exams _every _time they go to a school?" Grover nodded. Leo whistled appreciatively.

**""Don't remind me."**

**The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.**

**I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.**

**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm. Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night." **"Well, you may not be good at lying, but you are good at we'll work on that lying issue," the Stolls promised. Hermes looked please.

**""Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?" I didn't answer.**

**"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"" **"Bad question, good acting," Chris approved.

**""Just... tired."" **"Liar, lair, pants on fire!" "Shut up Leo."

**"I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed. I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing." "**Look the truth in the eye, wimp," Ares spat and Poseidon's puddle grew.

**"But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger." **"Some kind? A lot of danger," Clarisse said. Annabeth glared at Grover out of anger for being so careless.

**"The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam," **"Three, hour, exam. How?"** "my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled," **"At least he knows he spelt them wrong," Rachel decided.** "Mr. Brunner called me back inside. For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem." "**Great," Poseidon complained, "Another problem."

**""Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... it's for the best."" **Everyone's jaw dropped to the floor. Annabeth dropped her plate in shock.** "His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips." **"I. Will. Kill. Her." Clarisse declared.

**"I mumbled, "Okay, sir."**

**"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say." **"Of course not, you only will discourage him more!" Apollo cried out.

**""This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time." My eyes stung." **Poseidon whimpered like a hurt dog and I figured if I where Chiron I would be getting nervous soon.

**"Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out." "**Poor Percy," Piper whispered, her Aphrodite showing.

**""Right," I said, trembling." **"Wimp."

**""No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be—"**

**"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me.**

**"Percy—"**

**But I was already gone." **Smooth Chiron, real smooth. Poseidon was glaring and trembling for his son at the same time. Hestia looked up. "Poseidon, Zeus, Hades I suppose too," Hades raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't we invite Chiron to listen along with us? It is his student after all."

"Alright, I'll retrieve him," Poseidon said, anger still fuming in his eyes. "Err, brother perhaps I shall go," Zeus gave Hestia permission and allowed her to travel to the future. A couple minutes later she returned with the teacher in human form. He bowed before the gods and immediately Poseidon complained about his conversation. Zeus cut him off telling Chiron to sit wherever he wanted. He rolled over to Annabeth, Thalia and I. He asked Annabeth a silent question, "Any news?" Annabeth shock her head and Chiron leaned back and closed his eyes. I knew it was hard for him too. "Not yet. Book 7." Chiron brightened and the gods looked pretty darn confused.

**"On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.**

**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me," **"He is not a juvenile delinquent," Thalia shrugged like the sure, what ever you say.

**"but they were ****_rich _****juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities." **"Well, your daddy is the god of the sea," Poseidon huffed.

** "I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies." **Everyone started complaining. 

**"They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city. What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall." **"Poor ercy, at least he cares," Athena said doubtfully.

**""Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."**

**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed." **Grover shook his head in distaste.

**"The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover," **"Yeh!"

** "but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city." **"Coincidence, NOT!" Conner yelled, and Travis warned, "Careful, Grover is a stalker."

**"During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers." **"Very subtle, Grover." ** I**

**"t occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen." **"Maybe you're acting isn't as good as I thought it was."

**"Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased." "**This again!"

"**But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.**

**Finally I couldn't stand it anymore." **"What's he gonna do?" Poseidon grumbled.

**"I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"" **"He could do that," Poseidon sighed.

**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha—what do you mean?" I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam." "**Never give it in if you aren't forced too!" 

**"Grover's eye twitched. "How much ****_did _****you hear?"**

**"Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"" **"He was soo, lying. He heard almost everything."

**"He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers ..."" **"Yeh right."

**""Grover—"**

**"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."**

**"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."" **"See! Someone agrees with us!" Hermes looked pleased. He turned to his sons, "Please tell you are friends with this guy!" They nodded. "We all are," Rachel said gesturing to the demigods. "Well, except Annabeth, she's a little-" "Conner," Chiron turned to Athena, " Annabeth is a little picky with her friends."

**"His ears turned pink.**

**From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer. **

**The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes," **Hestia shook her head at Dionysius.** "but I finally made out something like:**

**_Grover Underwood_**

**_Keeper_**

**_Half-Blood Hill_**

**_Long Island, New York_**

**_(800) 009-0009_**

**"What's Half—"**

**"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... summer address." My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy." **"We come from the richest family in the world," Grover said and Apollo nodded. "And the immortalest." Athena shook her head, "No Apollo, just no."

**""Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion." He nodded. "Or ... or if you need me."**

**"Why would I need you?"" **"Males!" Artemis cried out.

**"It came out harsher than I meant it to.**

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have to protect you."**

**I stared at him." **"That is harsh," Annabeth sighed, "but I'm sure he didn't mean it." She glared at Hera.

**"All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended ****_me." _****"**He has a very kind heart," Hestia approved.

**""Grover," I said, "what exactly are you protecting me from?"" **"Here we go- the long, you see- the gods are real, and you are a demigod and then the silence followed by No! No! It can't be! HELP! Those are always entertaining." "Percy never actually got one of those," Chiron said thoughtfully.

**"There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway." **"Why now? Why doesn't Fate want him to know?" Everyone was silent thinking about what the Fates had in store for poor Percy.

**"After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else. We were on a stretch of country road—no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand." "**Please don't tell me…" Poseidon's question rolled of.

**"The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of bloodred cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice ****_. _****There were no customers, just three old ladies" **"Three!" Annabeth squeaked. Thalia shook her head. "It can't- they can't."

** "sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen." **"Socks of death," Clarisse said, putting the pieces together. Athena shuddered. "As long as they don't cut anything he's fine, if they aren't looking at him that's even better."

**"I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn." **No one dared speak. Annabeth was staring Grover down and Grover was visibly shaking.

**"All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses. The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me." **"That's not good," Dionysus complained. Everyone stared at him. He glanced up and then pointed at the magazine he was reading.

**"I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.**

**"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man—"**

**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**

**"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**

**"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."**

**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors" **"Don't cut, don't cut."

"**—gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.**

**"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."**

**"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."" **"Please go," I interrupted myself. Poseidon wasn't looking to well. Annabeth had squeezed her eyes shut and everyone else had turned real pale. Even Athena looked scared.

**""Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back. Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, " **"No!" Poseidon screamed.

"**and I swear I could hear that ****_snip _****across four lanes of traffic." **Annabeth was shaking and Poseidon was crying. Tears streamed down Annabeth's face as well.

"**Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for—Sasquatch or Godzilla. At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.**

**The passengers cheered.**

**"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!" Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu. Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.**

**"Grover?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"What are you not telling me?"**

**He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"**

**"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"**

**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw."**

**"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn." He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost—older." **"He notices way to much,' Rachel said quietly.

**"He said, "You saw her snip the cord."**

**"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal. "**It's a very big deal," Poseidon says, his voice quiet, and sad.

**"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."**

**"What last time?" **Thalia shifts in her seat. Thankfully no one notices.

**"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."**"You're only scaring him," Thalia scolded but her voice was shaky.

**"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"**

**"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me." **"Good idea," Athena says, "don't let that one out of your sight."

**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could. **" Let me guess- he breaks the promise and nearly dies," Apollo complains, trying to loosen the tension. Grover shuffles his hoofs.

**"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked. **"We wish," Katie says so quietly we hardly hear her.

**No answer.**

**"Grover—that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?" He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin."**

I closed the book and leaned back in my chair. Annabeth got up and ran out of the room. Almost everyone was crying now. Chiron wheeled out to follow my sister and I put my head in my hands. I knew what we where all thinking. 'They cut his cord he is going to die. And maybe. Maybe he already has.' All our hopes that he is at the Roman camp seemed to flush away. It shook the gods up to- but they didn't seem to understand why it effected us so much. Poseidon walked over to us. He stared at each of us until his eyes fell on me again. "Whatever your not telling me, tell me now." Athena looked up, "Don't threaten my child, Poseidon." Her voice was scared, almost like she was afraid of loosing me. I looked the god of the sea in the eye and said, "Percy Jackson is missing. He has been missing for four months."

**There you go. Chapter three. As a reassurance, Percy will come in at the end of this book/beginning of Sea of Monsters. A long way off- maybe but you never know. The gods now know Percy is missing-BUT that doesn't explain Annabeth's behavior. Will Athena find out, or will the demigods keep it a secret… Thanks for the positive reviews and all the favorite/following that's happening now. Please try my other stories too. ~WaterMimi23**


	4. Question Time

Athena's POV

I look at Malcolm with shock. Then at Poseidon with pity in my glance. As much as I hate him- if it were my child, my only child, I don't know what I would do. First the Fates cut his cord- then he's missing. He looks mad- shocked even and the seas are churning with rage, sadness. Poseidon seems weighted down. Zeus pulls a good card by saying, "30 minute break everyone."

I wander around Olympus for a while and then spy on my little Annabeth to pass time, she may be frozen in time, but at least I know where she is. And that she's alive. I pass by one of the many fountains on Olympus and see the sea god staring at a frozen image. An image of a little boy with black hair, and sea green eyes playing with his mother. I realize it must be his son- Percy. Poseidon breaks he connection and turns to face me and I see tears in his face. He turns away and sulks back to the throne room. I follow.

All of the gods, and demigods are coming in. I see my daughter walking back with the satyr at her side. Her friends Thalia and Rachel and the Cyclopes Tyson are near by. The all look a little agitated. Their worry over their friends seems to be pushing them down- Poseidon is having similar issues as I can tell. I pick up the book and am about to read when I pause.

"Annabeth, why-why is Percy's disappearance so hard on you? You told me you weren't friends." Annabeth pales slightly and glances to the ground.

"Well, actually, we aren't friends, we were more-"

"They were more like enemies," Malcolm burst in. "The night before he left- the night before he was kidnapped, stolen, whatever, Annabeth had teased him and she thought it was her fault. Still does."

Poseidon gulped. "Stolen, kidnapped! Who!?"

Malcolm glanced at Annabeth who was glaring at Hera. "I'll just read," I decided.

**"3 l GROVER** **UNEXPECTEDLY LOSES HIS PANTS," **There was an awkward silence followed by laughter. I shock my head in disgust.

**"Confession time:" **"I hate Percy's confessions," Katie grumbled. Travis raised an eyebrow.

** "I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal." **"Of course you did," Poseidon grumbled. Grover shook his head, "Percy was putting his own life in danger, and his mom's." Poseidon paled more.

**"I know, I know. It was rude." **"Yes it was," Artemis scolded.

** "But Grover was freaking me out, looking at me like I was a dead man, muttering "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always have to he sixth grade?"" **"So it was actually your fault," Hermes said trying to put the pieces together. Poseidon glared at the satyr.

**"Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up," **"So didn't need to know that fact," Hera grumbled.

** "so I wasn't surprised when, as soon as we got off the bus, he made me promise to wait for him," "**A promise that you broke," I muttered under my breath. 

**"then made a beeline for the restroom. Instead of waiting, I got my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown.**

**"East One-hundred-and-fourth and First," I told the driver. A word about my mother, before you meet her." **Poseidon looked up, "Wonderful, enchanting," "Kind," "Lovable," "Makes the best blue food," the demigods filled in. Blue food?

**"Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world, which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck. Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five," **Many people glared at Zeus and Aphrodite was whipping her eyes.** "and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her." **Hestia shook her head in disapproval.** "She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative writing program." **She might not even be that bad I decide.** "Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him." **"She is kind," Apollo approved. 

**"After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma." **"That's horrible."** "The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad." **Poseidon smiled and Annabeth smiled, "She has it much better now."

**"I don't have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile." **Poseidon shifted under Zeus and Hades's glares. "You visited him. As a child!"

"I have no idea, future me."

** "My mom doesn't like to talk about him because ****_it _****makes her sad. **Poseidon looks down. **She has no pictures. See, they weren't married. She told me he was rich and important, **Poseidon smiles slightly** and their relationship was a secret. Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back.**

**Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea." **"That's so romantic," Piper coed and Aphrodite nodded. Jason raised an eyebrow and I heard Leo whisper, "Your Aphrodite is showing, Pipes."

**"She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raised me on her own. She never complained or got mad." **"She is great," Poseidon said wistfully and no one disagreed.

** "Not even once. But I knew I wasn't an easy kid." **"At least he admits it," Annabeth grumbles.

**"Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano, who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him, **Artemis shakes her head in disgust and mutters "Men."

** "then showed his true colors as a world-class jerk." **Even if Percy is Water Brains son, I still feel bad for him. "**When I was young, I nicknamed him Smelly Gabe." **Apollo smirked, "How smelly can a mortal be?" 

**"I'm sorry, but it's the truth." **"Not your fault Perce." Chris I think says.** "The guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts." **Aphrodite was gagging at the thought. My mind was working in overdrive. Could it be possible that Sally- was that her name? Yes. That Sally had married him, to protect her son?

** "Between the two of us, we made my mom's life pretty hard." **Thalia shook her head and the oracle looked lost in thought. 

**"The way Smelly Gabe treated her, the way he and I got along ... well, when I came home is a good example." **"You mean- a good example of something, not good right?" Hermes said. "So it was actually a bad example…" I shook my head in a just drop it kind of way.

**"I walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies." **"I'm guessing his 'buddies' aren't going to be my next best friend," Poseidon grumbled, venom filling his words. He still didn't look completely healed over his son's future predicament, I almost feel bad for him. Almost.

"**The television blared ESPN." **"Ohh," Dionysus said clapping his hands, "My favorite."

** "Chips and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet." **"I like this guy," Dionysus said, "Was it Bud Light?" The demigods are all looking disgusted and having small conversations between themselves that I can't hear.

**"Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, "So, you're home."**

**"Where's my mom?" **

**"Working," he said. "You got any cash?"" **I raise my eyebrow. Some of the demigods look down right murderous. Poseidon was fuming, "What! No welcome back!? No nice to see you! Sally why did you marry this man!" Tyson cried out, "I agree with Daddy!"

**"That was it. No ****_Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?" _** "Well Poseidon, hopefully your son didn't inherit anything more from you than you thoughts. That's already bad enough," Zeus declared.

**"Gabe had put on weight. He looked like a tusk less walrus in thrift-store clothes. He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome or something." **It was actually quiet amusing looking at the different expressions. Aphrodite was gagging, Dionysus was bored again, Hermes was cracking up and Apollo was laughing as well. At the thought of a walrus in thrift shop cloths. Poseidon looked disgusted, Zeus and Hera had both raised an eyebrow- maybe they fit together more then they thought, mhh- Hades was coughing, trying to hold back his laughter. Demeter and Artemis along with all the demigods simply looked grossed out. Ares was trying to calm Aphrodite down and Hephaestus was evil eyeing them. Hestia and I met our eyes and an understanding passed through our heads, 'How are we related to them.'

**"He managed the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens, but he stayed home most of the time. I don't know why he hadn't been fired long before." "**It's a good thing he wasn't fired yet-right? Or Percy would have no money," Leo said. Annabeth turns to him and stares. The boy starts burning. Like literally burning. Flames seem to be growing out of the boy. I leap out of my throne, book clattering to the floor while Hephaestus raises an out of place eyebrow. Poseidon coughs and doses the boy with water. "Thank you, I needed that," the boy complains sarcastically. I sit back down, and pick up the book. "So, you are a fire user?" I say bluntly laying out my facts, "You know the last one- he burned down half of London." Leo shrugs, "I'm trying not to burn down any major cities- but no promises." I can see fear creeping its way onto the faces of the other gods- someone so powerful, with such an attitude. Who wouldn't be scared?

**"He just kept on collecting paychecks, spending the money on cigars that made me nauseous, and on beer, of course." **"Of course," Hera complained, "No family vacations, no movie nights,.. Hey we should do something like!" Since I am sadly part of the family I read on.

**"Always beer. Whenever I was home, he expected me to provide his gambling funds." **"Who does this guy think he is!" Poseidon cried out.** "He called that our "guy secret." Meaning, if I told my mom, he would punch my lights out." **Poseidon was fuming, scared for his only son. "I will kill him," the sea god growled through gritted teeth,. "Don't worry, Sally took care of that for you," Annabeth called out. Poseidon goes wide eyed and says, "I hope it's in the book." "Yeh some killing could spice things up a bit," Ares muttered.

**""I don't have any cash," I told him.**

**He raised a greasy eyebrow." **"Ugh," Demeter's daughter complains, "No more please."

**"Gabe could sniff out money like a bloodhound, which was surprising, since his own smell should've covered up everything else." **I pause and Grover- who happens to be lord of the wild meets my eye. He nods confirming my thoughts. Poor Sally I decide. But she is a smart one. I glance at Poseidon and I can tell he also knows why she married the jerk.

**""You took a taxi from the bus station," he said. Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven bucks in change. Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his own weight. Am I right, Eddie?"**

**Eddie, the super of the apartment building, looked at me with a twinge of sympathy. "Come on, Gabe," he said. "The kid just got here."" **The son of Hades- Nico growls, "Oh now your own buddies going against you- how does that feel."

**""Am I ****_right_****? ****_" _****Gabe repeated.**

**Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony." **"We should," "totally try that," Conner and Travis grin. The Katie girl along with Annabeth and Thalia give them a stare down. They start to cower into the corner.

**""Fine," I said. I dug a wad of dollars out of my pocket and threw the money on the table. "I hope you lose."" **Apollo grumbled, "Oh don't worry- he will." It seems this Percy lad has been growing on all our hearts. Except mine of course.

**""Your report card came, brain boy!" he shouted after me. "I wouldn't act so snooty!" I slammed the door to my room, which really wasn't my room." **"How is that suppose to work?" Hestia asked, "Either it's his room or it's not." "Hang on- I think it explains it in a sec, **During school months, it was Gabe's "study." He didn't study anything in there except old car magazines, but he loved shoving my stuff in the closet, leaving his muddy boots on my windowsill, and doing his best to make the place smell like his nasty cologne and cigars and stale beer." "**Ohh," Hestia says quietly. As the goddess of home and hearth she probably feels real bad.

**"I dropped my suitcase on the bed. Home sweet home." **"More like home stinky home," Chris blurted out.

**"Gabe's smell was almost worse than the nightmares about Mrs. Dodds, or the sound of that old fruit lady's shears snipping the yarn." **"Maybe for his birthday, I'll give him some perfume to cover it," Aphrodite mused. "The smell I mean."

**"But as soon as I thought that, my legs felt weak. I remembered Grover's look of panic—how he'd made me promise I wouldn't go home without him. A sudden chill rolled through me. I felt like someone—something—was looking for me right now, maybe pounding its way up the stairs, growing long, horrible talons." **Everygod is leaning forward in their thrones. All the demigods are fidgeting nervously. I figured most of them knew how it felt.

**"Then I heard my mom's voice. "Percy?"" **Everyone in the hall released a great breath. Then Thalia froze, "Cyclopes- they can mimic voices." I give her credit- she's a smart one. I had been thinking that too.

**"She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted.**

**My mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room. Her eyes sparkle and change color in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long brown hair, but I never think of her as old. When she looks at me, it's like she's seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad. I've never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even me or Gabe." **"She sounds really nice," Piper mused. Jason nodded, "Much nicer than my mom, I bet." He glances at Thalia who is staring at the ground. I still find it hard to believe they are siblings. They look nothing alike- and even act totally different. And the entire he's Roman she's Greek thing is hard to follow.

**""Oh, Percy." She hugged me tight. "I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!" Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled like the best things in the world: chocolate, licorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central." **Hermes and his sons grin. "The best things in the world," they repeat, almost as if they rehearsed it. "Jinx!" "Double Jinx!" Triple Jinx!" The war god's daughter clamps her hand over her boyfriend's mouth. Hermes drops out after five jinx (I seriously hope they know it's fifth jinx and so on). The twin like boys- Conner and Travie I think- no Travis keep going till, 14 jinx. Everyone is staring at them. The demigods act like this is normal behavior. I think I should be scared.

"**She'd brought me a huge bag of "free samples,"" **"Lucky," Apollo whinned.** "the way she always did when I came home." **By now all the boys were drooling- and the girs were getting pretty hungry. "Teatime after this," Aphrodite exclaimed.I groan- Aphrodite's teatimes make even an immortal goddess fat. Unless, you're the goddess of love of course.

**"We sat together on the edge of the bed. While I attacked the blueberry sour strings," **Grover grinned, "Those are the best," while Chris complained, "Will someone please explain the blue thing. I mean sure he's son of Poseidon water god," "Water God," Poseidon interrupted, "umm, Son of the Sea God, I mean. But he drinks Blue Cherry Coke for crying out loud. Why?" Grover grinned cheekily, "You'll see."

** "she ran her hand through my hair and demanded to know everything I hadn't put in my letters." **"He wrote letters," Chiron cried out startled. Tyson nodded, "Did the pony not get a letter from Percy?" Ouch- Chiron is not going to like that. But the centaur just sighed and shook his head at the Stolls who had just opened their mouths. They pouted slightly.

** "She didn't mention anything about my getting expelled. She didn't seem to care about that." **"She didn't care," I muttered under my breath, thinking no one heard me, "And to think Poseidon actually had some decency. I heard him chuckled and said, "Just wait," and I read on**. **

**"But was I okay? Was her little boy doing all right?" **" "She must ask that question a lot," Thalia commented. Poseidon frowned slightly, "Sally was never a worry bug." Nico chuckled, "Anyone who's friends with Percy becomes a worry bug," Poseidon groaned.

**"I told her she was smothering me, and to lay off and all that, but secretly, I was really, really glad to see her." **"Who wouldn't be," Hestia smiled, "It is best at your own hearth, isn't it." Everyone agreed. Even Hades.

**"From the other room, Gabe yelled, "Hey, Sally—how about some bean dip, huh?" I gritted my teeth." **By now everyone hated this guy, even Dionysus, which says a lot.

**"My mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should've been married to a millionaire," **"How about the Lord of the Sea?" Poseidon said wistfully. For some reason Hades looks at he ground and Hera goes on scolding Poseidon, reminding him that he already has a wife, and a son, and a palace. She can be annoying. All the demigods seem to hate her; I wonder what she did to them. 

** "not to some jerk like Gabe. For her sake," "**Since when does he do anything for himself anyway," Rachel praised.

** "I tried to sound upbeat about my last days at Yancy Academy. I told her I wasn't too down about the expulsion." **"Of course not," Conner replied cheekily, "You were getting expelled afterall."

** "I'd lasted almost the whole year this time." **"Should I be scared that I'm actually impressed by that?" Poseidon called across the room to the demigods. They just shook their heads.

**"I'd made some new friends. I'd done pretty well in Latin. And honestly, the fights hadn't been as bad as the headmaster said. I liked Yancy Academy. I really did. I put such a good spin on the year, I almost convinced myself. I started choking up, thinking about Grover and Mr. Brunner. Even Nancy Bobofit suddenly didn't seem so bad." **"Wow," the satyr said, clearly impressed, "He must have put a really good spin on the year then."

**"Until that trip to the museum ..." **"Why do we read this," Zeus complained, "He tells his mother, she takes him to camp, they all live happily ever after. Right?" I glance at the demigods who won't meet our eyes. I decide to barter my way through this. "One chapter, one fact about the future. Okay. We all take turns asking," I gesture to the other gods. They nod. "But," I said turning my attention back to the demigods, "You must tell the truth. At all times." The demigods slowly nod their head. I figure since Ares, Dionysius, Aphrodite, and Hermes, and maybe even Apollo's questions wouldn't be very helpful that left us with half the council.

"I. Go. First." Ares announced between yawns. I shrug. Fine by me.

**""What?" my mom asked. Her eyes tugged at my conscience, trying to pull out the secrets.**

**"Did something scare you?"**

**"No, Mom."" **"Noooo! Do not lie!" Poseidon was shaking his head vigorously.

**"I felt bad lying." "**Good," Thalia grumbled and Hera nodded in agreement. ** "I wanted to tell her about Mrs. Dodds and the three old ladies with the yarn, but I thought it would sound stupid." **"When he says it, it does sound stupid," Hermes exclaimed between chuckles.

**"She pursed her lips. She knew I was holding back, but she didn't push me.**

**""I have a surprise for you," she said. "We're going to the beach." My eyes widened. "Montauk?"" **Poseidon smiled slightly and Aphrodite started paying more attention to the book. Or at least she took her designer headphones of so she could listen.

**""Three nights—same cabin."" **"What other cabin would they got to," Poseidon asked still in a slight trance.

**""When?"**

**She smiled. "As soon as I get changed."**

**I couldn't believe it. My mom and I hadn't been to Montauk the last two summers," **"How often does he go?" Jason asked. I didn't need to hear the answer, I could sense it was often.

**"because Gabe said there wasn't enough money.**

**Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?" I wanted to punch him," **Clarisse rolled her yes, "But he's to scared to," she said sarcastically. Perseus Jackson sure seems to be a big shot around here. 

**"but I met my mom's eyes and I understood she was offering me a deal: be nice to Gabe for a little while. Just until she was ready to leave for Montauk. Then we would get out of here." "**Didn't he just get there..?" Chris mused. "That's what I was thinking!" Apollo cried out. Artemis mouthed 'Just read on,' and so I did.

**""I was on my way, honey,"" **"How can she call him Honey!" Poseidon roared, and Aphrodite's grin grew.

** "she told Gabe. "We were just talking about the trip." Gabe's eyes got small. "The trip? You mean you were serious about that?"**

**"I knew it," I muttered. "He won't let us go."" **"Poor Percy," Katie said, "Ohh trust me- at the end of the night Percy was wishing he had never left for that beach."

**""Of course he will," my mom said evenly. "Your stepfather is just worried about money. That's all. Besides," she added, "Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make him enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works."" **Even my mouth was starting to water, the son of Hades was reassuring everyone that it was as good as it sounded.

**"Gabe softened a bit. "So this money for your trip ... it comes out of your clothes budget, right?"" **Aphrodite looked offended everyone else was wondering 'Why did she stay with this man?"

**"Yes, honey," my mother said." **"There's that 'honey' again," Poseidon grumbled, "She could have done better than that."

**""And you won't take my car anywhere but there and back."**

**"We'll be very careful."**

**Gabe scratched his double chin. "Maybe if you hurry with that seven-layer dip ... And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game."" **"Percy, apologizing," the Stoll brothers burst out laughing. I glance at Chiron, "Are they always, so?" Chiron nodded. Poor guy.

**"Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing soprano for a week." **Apollo frowned, "That is an insult to music," he declared while everyone was laughing at the demigod's thoughts. 

**"But my mom's eyes warned me not to make him mad." **"Either she loves him-which is highly doubtful," Artemis added seeing Poseidon's grossed out face, "she is to kind, or he hurts her." I see my daughter and Grover shuffle uncomfortably around in their beanbags. I still don't really understand why she knows Percy that well. I suppose they might have been friends, maybe even best friends, before he was claimed, by my immortal enemy- okay more like frienemy, as much as I hate that term, it sits the situation.

**"Why did she put up with this guy? I wanted to scream. Why did she care what he thought?" **"That's what I want to know," Poseidon complained.

**""I'm sorry," I muttered. "I'm really sorry I interrupted your incredibly important poker game. Please go back to it right now."" **"See, Percy never really apologizes," Conner and Travis show us.

**"Gabe's eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably trying to detect sarcasm in my statement.**

**"Yeah, whatever," he decided.**

**He went back to his game." **"At least he is away from Percy," Chiron mentioned and it was clear to me that Perseus Jackson had grown on his heart as well.

**""Thank you, Percy," my mom said. "Once we get to Montauk, we'll talk more about... whatever you've forgotten to tell me, okay?"**

**For a moment, I thought I saw anxiety in her eyes—the same fear I'd seen in Grover during the bus ride—as if my mom too felt an odd chill in the air." **I frown as I reread that mentally. "Does she know?" I demand for Poseidon to answer me. He simply nods. "He is a dangerous boy," Chiron explained to me, "his mother should know his future, and the danger he is in." I hate it when people have to explain things to me, but when Chiron does about family- the one thing all books describe differently, I don't mind. My family is so messed up it's actually nice to hear about a normal mortal and demigod combo once in awhile. As normal as their lives get of course.

**"But then her smile returned, and I figured I must have been mistaken. She ruffled my hair and went to make Gabe his seven-layer dip.**

**An hour later we were ready to leave." **The demigods are talking quietly but I can't really hear them so I just keep reading.

**"Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom's bags to the car. He kept griping and groaning about losing her cooking and more important, his '78 Camaro—for the whole weekend." **Aphrodite was getting confused - 'How did I put those two together?' she seemed to be thinking.

**""Not a scratch on this car, brain boy," he warned me as I loaded the last bag. "Not one little scratch."" **"Is he going to be driving…" Dionysus slurred, "Cuz when he comes to camp, we are gonna clash, you know what I mean?" Zeus threw his head back and hands in the air in desperation. He made the wine bottles float over and kept a cage over them.

**"Like I'd be the one driving. I was twelve. But that didn't matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much as pooped on his paint job, he'd find a way to blame me." **

"He is harsh," Ares grinned, "they must fight a lot."

**"Watching him lumber back toward the apartment building, I got so mad I did something I can't explain." "**This should be fun," Chiron groaned. 

** "As Gabe reached the doorway, I made the hand gesture I'd seen Grover make on the bus, a sort of warding-off-evil gesture, a clawed hand over my heart, then a shoving movement toward Gabe." **Chiron frowned and turned to Grover, "You really must be more careful."Grover turned bright red and looked at the floor, "Sorry Chiron."

**"The screen door slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the staircase as if he'd been shot from a cannon." **Chiron laughed out loud. Everyone else was still in shook. A minute later we were all laughing with Chiron. That a 12 year old can do something that, stupid, yet powerful was hilarious. 'Then again, he is a son of Poseidon,'

"**Maybe it was just the wind, or some freak accident with the hinges, " **"Sure, that's what it was," Malcolm snorted.

**"but I didn't stay long enough to find out. I got in the Camaro and told my mom to step on it.** **Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders in the cabinets, and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in. I loved the place." **I stuttered a bit on the word spiders, not understanding how Perseus could still love this place. Poseidon looks lost in thoughts but no one else was talking.

**"We'd been going there since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but I knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met my dad." **Aphrodite sat straighter- which I thought was impossible as she was sitting as straight as a stick- and her eyes twinkled with delight. She looked- so, so perfect that it made me bonkers.

**"As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea. We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work. I guess I should explain the blue food." **"Yeh, you should, since Grover won't," Zeus grumbled. Jason asked, "Umm, so he likes blue candy and blue coke. I mean why is this a big deal? He's the son of Poseidon." Piper shot a questioning look to Annabeth, then Thalia for an answer. Why Annabeth first? I have no idea. "Um, he is obsessed with blue. Always blue foods, drinks, and- well just about everything."

**"See, Gabe had once told my mom there was no such thing." **"I never knew there where so many blue foods, until Perseus came to camp," Chiron the centaur remarked. All of the campers nodded, excluding a still confused, or rather cunfuzled, Jason, and Piper. Leo didn't seem to find any of this strange.

** "They had this fight," **Ares looked up, "Violence?" I rolled my eyes.

** "which seemed like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue. She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue-corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop." **"Blue chips," Jason muttered. "Her blue cakes are the best," Nico commented. "No the brownies," Artemis's Lieutenant argued. "Nah-ha, the blue cookies are by far the best," my daughter said, topping all the other arguments.

"How do you know?" I inquired.

"We had some before a quest."

"You went on a quest?"

"I went on four/five major ones and one coming up."

"With him?"

"Yes."

"What's the next one for?"

"Mainly, umm, you'll find out, and my other one that I believe is coming up, involves you..." her voice trailed off leaving my and all the others in the room puzzled. I kept reading, ignoring the questioning looks from my fellow council members, and family. I had a bad feeling about this.

**"This—along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than calling herself Mrs. Ugliano—was proof that she wasn't totally suckered by Gabe. She did have a rebellious streak, like me." **"Streak?" Chiron mussed, "more like he has a hair of obedience left. That's it. But he got that from Lord Poseidon I believe, not his mother." Poseidon was blushing like crazy and some of the closer friends of Percy were laughing. I toned them out. It seemed I was traveling back into another world. Their laughter became mute until I heard it no more. 'It involves you…' 'You'll see about the other one,' chains of thoughts traveled through my head. 'Son of Jupiter among the Greeks. Son of Poseidon missing for four months. ' Could it be? No. They can't the Greeks and Romans can't meet. And even if they did. It wouldn't mean I gave her the coin. A cold shudder runs down my spine. Whatever future me had done I regretted it already. Artemis was calling my name and I started reading. My face was paler than before. My heart was heavy. I couldn't concentrate. I hadn't given her a coin. I had handed her a death sentence. And she had told no one. Yet, she still loved me?

**"When it got dark, we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash." **Artemis seemed to be scolding our father- but I still couldn't focus. I didn't make out the words.

"**She told me about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop." **"I like this one- very optimistic isn't she," Apollo asked. I kept reading before anyone could answer.

**"Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask about what was always on my mind whenever we came to Montauk—my father. Mom's eyes went all misty. I figured she would tell me the same things she always did, but I never got tired of hearing them." **"Who doesn't? It's our parents afterall," Katie asked. Everyone nodded. I wondered if Fredrick had told my baby Annabeth stories about me.

**""He was kind, Percy," she said. "Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes."" **"Perfect description," Aphrodite applauded and even I had to agree. Exceot the handsome part of course.

**"Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. "I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud.""** "I see you, and I am proud," Poseidon whispered. I realized it must be hard, Percy not being here, scaring Poseidon. Wait. I'm not feeling pity for him am I? I need to get back into my normal self. Annabeth still loves me, and she's alive. Deep breath. Keep reading.

**"I wondered how she could say that." **Thalia raised an eyebrow then lowered it, "Oh right, I forgot he thinks so little of himself. How he had no ego." No one commented and hey stared at her. She stared back. "Now he has one. Since, you know. The thingy bout the thing- and since he has the thingy that keeps him cough cough?" Surprisingly ebough- they actually seemed to understand- minus a few here or there.

**"What was so great about me?" **one of the demigods muttered something, but I couldn't pinpoint it on who or what.** "A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years." **"Okay… he does have a worse record then me," Piper chuckled. She looked just as perfect as her mother but- more natural. I immediately liked her. I could tell so did my daughter. I could also tell Jason was staring longingly at the girl. Demigod drama. But then again- I didn't really want to know what was going on.

**""How old was I?" I asked. "I mean ... when he left?" She watched the flames. "He was only with me for one summer, Percy. Right here at this beach. This cabin."" **Poseidon glared at Zeus and many other gods looked frustrated, we all hated the law that avoided us from having contact with our children.

**""But... he knew me as a baby."**

**"No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born."" **I felt bad for the children of the gods- now more than ever. Never know their parents. Then when they meet them, their lives become a hundred times more dangerous. But this was the first time I get to actually hear the thoughts of one. And one so powerful as I think he is.

**"I tried to square that with the fact that I seemed to remember ... something about my father. A warm glow. A smile." **"You break the rule and visit him anyway," Zeus grumbled. Poseidon shrugged, "Since when does the sea follow rules?"

**"I had always assumed he knew me as a baby. My mom had never said it outright, but still, I'd felt it must be true. Now, to be told that he'd never even seen me ... I felt angry at my father. Maybe it was stupid, but I resented him for going on that ocean voyage, for not having the guts to marry my mom. He'd left us, and now we were stuck with Smelly Gabe." **"I regret that more than anything- not even bringing him in so much danger, but having to leave him."

"He doesn't hate you anymore," the satyr reassured Poseidon.

**""Are you going to send me away again?" I asked her. "To another boarding school?" She pulled a marshmallow from the fire.**

**"I don't know, honey." Her voice was heavy. "I think ... I think we'll have to do something."" **"Oh, she was actually going to send him to camp before," Chiron trailed off. Grover nodded absently. I hate not knowing but now- the fastest way to find out is to read.

**""Because you don't want me around?"" **Everyone's eyes widened. "Did Percy actually say something- mean?" "No- he wouldn't." "That's not him." 

**"I regretted the words as soon as they were out." **"Good that way," Hera ventured, "Being hurt by thy own children is a horrible feeling." Hephaestus and Ares grumbled but didn't meet their mother's eyes. 

**"My mom's eyes welled with tears. She took my hand, squeezed it tight. "Oh, Percy, no. I—I ****_have _****to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away." Her words reminded me of what Mr. Brunner had said—that it was best for me to leave Yancy." **"Well, they are talking about the same thing," Chris laughed.

**""Because I'm not normal," I said.**

**"You say that as if it's a bad thing, Percy. But you don't realize how important you are. I thought Yancy Academy would be far enough away. I thought you'd finally be safe."**

**"Safe from what?"**

**She met my eyes, and a flood of memories came back to me—all the weird, scary things that had ever happened to me, some of which I'd tried to forget." ** "Percy forgets a lot. Like cleaning. And making the bed," Tyson speculated. Some of the demigods laughed. Others blushed.

**"During third grade, a man in a black trench coat had stalked me on the playground. When the teachers threatened to call the police, he went away growling, but no one believed me when I told them that under his broad-brimmed hat, the man only had one eye, right in the middle of his head." **Tyson looked murderous, "Bad Cyclops." 

**"Before that—a really early memory. I was in preschool, and a teacher accidentally put me down for a nap in a cot that a snake had slithered into. My mom screamed when she came to pick me up and found me playing with a limp, scaly rope I'd somehow managed to strangle to death with my meaty toddler hands." **My voice died down and I had to reread that section. Everyone stared. Jason, Piper, Leo and all the gods looked shocked, surprised, startled, and even scared. The other demigods, Chiron, Tyson and Grover didn't seem surprised by this heroic act at all. At the age four or younger.

**"In every single school, something creepy had happened, something unsafe, and I was forced to move." **"Happens to all of us," Clarisse growled.

**"I knew I should tell my mom about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds at the art museum, about my weird hallucination that I had sliced my math teacher into dust with a sword." **"You should, and sadly- that was no hallucination," Hestia noted.

**"But I couldn't make myself tell her. I had a strange feeling the news would end our trip to Montauk, and I didn't want that." **Ughs, and seriouslys were heard throughout the throne room along with a bit of cursing and some growling.

**""I've tried to keep you as close to me as I could," my mom said. "They told me that was a mistake. But there's only one other option, Percy—the place your father wanted to send you. And I just... I just can't stand to do it."" **"Ohh, this should be an interesting conversation."

**""My father wanted me to go to a special school?"**

**"Not a school," she said softly. "A summer camp." My head was spinning. Why would my dad—who hadn't even stayed around long enough to see me born— talk to my mom about a summer camp? And if it was so important, why hadn't she ever mentioned it before?" **"You know, I've never heard the parents have to explain the camp to their kids, I've always been left with explain gods existing. But how the demigods understand camp before that, I think am actually learning something form Percy."

**""I'm sorry, Percy," she said, seeing the look in my eyes. "But I can't talk about it. I—I couldn't send you to that place. It might mean saying good-bye to you for good."**

**"For good? But if it's only a summer camp ..."**

**She turned toward the fire, and I knew from her expression that if I asked her any more questions she would start to cry.**

**That night I had a vivid dream." **"More dreams. Hopefully he won't break anymore fountains," Tyson muttered, "that was hard to clean up."

**"It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf." **Zeus, and Poseidon had a quick stare down. 

**"The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagles wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder." **"A monstrous voice, from somewhere beneath the ground," I repeated. I then glanced at Hades. He narrowed his eyes. Okay if it isn't Hades then, no it can't be my grandfather. Nope. Not Kronos.

**"I ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them from killing each other, but I was running in slow motion. I knew I would be too late. I saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's wide eyes, and I screamed, ****_No!" _**Zeus mumbled, "I win," but I knew his heart wasn't in it.

**"I woke with a start.**

**Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery." **"Hurricane, they don't get hurricanes that early." "Unless Poseidon is really mad," Maloclm said turning over to the god.

**"With the next thunderclap, my mom woke. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, "Hurricane." I knew that was crazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have forgotten. Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my hair stand on end." **Everyone was silent.

**"Then a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice—someone yelling, pounding on our cabin door.**

**My mother sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock. " **Everyone was sitting at the end of there seats. "**Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain. " **Everyone let out a breath of relief except Grover. I was the only one who seemed to notice.

"**But he wasn't... he wasn't exactly Grover.**

**"Searching all night," he gasped. "What were you thinking?" My mother looked at me in terror—not scared of Grover, but of why he'd come.**

**"Percy," she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. "What happened at school? What didn't you tell me?"**

**I was frozen, looking at Grover. I couldn't understand what I was seeing.**

**_"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!" _****he yelled. "It's right behind me! Didn't you ****_tell _****her?"" **Now everyone was pale again. ** "I was too shocked to register that he'd just cursed in Ancient Greek, and I'd understood him perfectly. I was too shocked to wonder how Grover had gotten here by himself in the middle of the night. Because Grover didn't have his pants on—and where his legs should be ... where his legs should be ...**

**My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before: ****_"Percy. _****Tell me ****_now_****!"**

**I stammered something about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds, and my mom stared at me, her face deathly pale in the flashes of lightning.**

**She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, "Get to the car. Both of you. ****_Go_****! ****_"_**** Grover ran for the Camaro—but he wasn't running, exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly his story about a muscular disorder in his legs made sense to me. I understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked. Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves." **

"End of chapter," I murmured.

"What's chasing them!" Poseidon cried out.

"Hopefully something that will get a fight going," Ares yawned, "now my question. Is there a war in the future?"

The demigods looked around and shoved Annabeth forward. "Fine," she glared behind her, "Apparently I've been elected to answer all these questions. So war. Umm. Yeh. Two. One against Kronos, which I'm pretty sure The Last Olympian, is about. And then one in a couple months coming up against Gaea."

Zeus threw his hands in the air. "Okay, another break. And no Aphrodite, no tea yet. Maybe later." Aphrodite pouted and the other gods grumbling and still a little shocked walked out of the room. The demigods formed little circles and talked. I put the book down and walked out. With this news, it seemed everyone had forgotten about Percy Jackson for a minute.

**Wow. This took forever. I just couldn't seem to sit down and write. And Athena just seems like she would have complicated thoughts and I wasn't sure how to do this. I hope you like this. Sorry! The more reviews- the more I'll feel like writing. Thanks. ~WaterMimi23**


	5. Grover Invents a New Shade of Red

Piper's POV

Once we elected or rather shoved Annabeth forth to answer the questions from now on, she did her job well. Another thing she did well; hide her relationship with Percy. At first it seemed to be really hard for her, but after a goodnight's sleep she seemed easier to be around. Her mom was persuaded on their relationship, or their not existing one- or at least as far as I can tell-, but Athena must have a complicated mind. Jason and Leo were sitting on either side of me and discussing little Percy Jackson. Jason still seemed miffed that as a four year old, Percy had strangled a snake with his bare hands.

"Dude, really. Just drop it. We have our own book bout us too! One all about our quest! Like we're famous or something."

"Well we are the heroes if Olympus from the Prophecy after all." I shut Leo up, but did not succeed silencing Jason.

"But he has, like what? Five, six, seven, maybe 9 books about him! That's so not fair."

I was about to try my luck shutting Jason up when the gods came back in. They seemed to have had a meeting since they all came in at the same time. And I'm pretty sure there was no announcement to call them all back. Did Olympus even have loudspeakers? I wasn't gonna ask- that's for sure.

I pushed myself out of the circle of jealous and fighting little children and sat next to Annabeth, with Rachel, Thalia, Clarisse, and Katie. They silently welcomed me with smiles all around and then turned their attention back to the gods.

"We have discussed these upcoming wars and decided, since what we are doing- reading about the future is illegal and a wrongdoing from Athena, we can not handle- yet." Zeus gave a pointed look at Athena who looked to the floor. Then he tossed me the book. Wonderful.

**"4 l MY MOTHER TEACHES ME BULLFIGHTING," **I stop reading after just the title and look up. Some of the older campers look tense as if they know what is going to happen, others look just as confused as I do.

**"We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the windshield. I didn't know how my mom could see anything, but she kept her foot on the gas." **"That must be a really bad monster they are being followed by," Hermes stated, taking the thought from everyone's minds.

**"Every time there was a flash of lightning, I looked at Grover sitting next to me in the backseat and I wondered if I'd gone insane, or if he was wearing some kind of shag-carpet pants." **Grover humped and we laughed.

"**But, no, the smell was one I remembered from kindergarten field trips to the petting zoo— lanolin, like from wool. The smell of a wet barnyard animal." **"I do not smell like that!" "Don't worry it's only when your wet," Clarisse reassured Grover. It didn't seem to work though.

**"All I could think to say was, "So, you and my mom... know each other?"" **"Of course that's what he says," Rachel rolled her eyes, "Not even, what's going on, or what the heck is happening, nope."I have to admit Percy's thoughts were funny- even if I didn't really like the idea of invading someone's mind.

**""Grover's eyes flitted to the rearview mirror, though there were no cars behind us. "Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you.""** "You make it sound so stalkerish- I like it that way!" Ugh those Stolls. I still need to get them back for painting my bunk pink last week.

**""Watching me?"**

**"Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "I ****_am _****your friend."**

**"Urn ... what ****_are _****you, exactly?""** "That is so Percy. Someone is reassuring you he is your friend and all he comes up with is what are you," Clarisse shouted over the laughter. Even the gods were laughing along with us.

**""That doesn't matter right now."**

**"It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey—"" **"Ohhh- that's gotta hurt," Chris joked. 

**"Grover let out a sharp, throaty ****_"Blaa-ha-ha!"_**

**I'd heard him make that sound before, but I'd always assumed it was a nervous laugh. Now I realized it was more of an irritated bleat.**

**"Goat!" he cried.**

**"What?"**

**"I'm a ****_goat _****from the waist down."" **"And I thought you just said it didn't matter," Thalia teased Grover.

**""You just said it didn't matter."" **"I'm turning into a Kelp Head! Nooo!" I have to admit even with the seriousness of this book it is pretty funny."

**_""Blaa-ha-ha! _****There are satyrs who would trample you underhoof for such an insult!"" **"Somehow I don't think that's going to stop Percy," Nico chuckled. Poseidon raised an eyebrow, "What does that mean."

"You see, Percy- how do you word this. He gets on the bad side of a lot of, anythings really." Poseidon groaned.

**""Whoa. Wait. Satyrs. You mean like ... Mr. Brunner's myths?"**

**"Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a ****_myth, _****Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?"**

**"So you ****_admit _****there was a Mrs. Dodds!"" **"That's all he cares about," Hera stuttered with disgust.

**""Of course."**

**"Then why—"" **"Mrs. Jackson must have found this conversation very interesting." Nico brought up. Several people nodded in agreement.

**""The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious." **"Way to be blunt," Hades said.

** ""We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are."" **"He's going to go nuts if you don't tell him the entire thing from the beginning, Grover," Hestia scolded, her voice full of concern for the young hero. I really do like Hestia. Much better than my mother that's for sure.

**""Who I—wait a minute, what do you mean?"**

**The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail.**

**"Percy," my mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety."**

**"Safety from what? Who's after me?"" **Everyone paled as I kept reading. Poseidon dropped his head into his hands in defeat. Grover started shaking a little.

**""Oh, nobody much," Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions."" **"Hades!" Poseidon bellowed, leaping out of his seat, "If he dies because of you, then, then, I will banish you to Tartarus." A cold blast of air blew threw the room. So ancient, and evil. No one said anything until Zeus cleared his throat, "Brother, please, just wait. But Hades, the same goes for any of my children," he eyed Thalia and Jason. Everyone paled noticeable. What? Oh right. Hades had killed Thalia. Back before she was a tree. Oh. Won't this be fun.

**""Grover!"**

**"Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?"**

**I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening, but I couldn't do it. I knew this wasn't a dream. I had no imagination. I could never dream up something this weird. My mom made a hard left. We swerved onto a narrower road, racing past darkened farmhouses and wooded hills and PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on white picket fences." **"He's so close, but still to far away," Chiron whispered wistfully. Poseidon heard and grumbled something about moving further down the road. I didn't know Percy at all, but from stories told over the camp fire, it was clear to me Poseidon was going to go nuts by the end of these books.

**""Where are we going?" I asked.**

**"The summer camp I told you about." My mother's voice was tight; she was trying for my sake not to be scared. "The place your father wanted to send you."**

**"The place you didn't want me to go."**

**"Please, dear," my mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger.""** No one spook. I realized I must have gotten a good chapter. Well- not good, one that is more serious, where people pay more attention and don't interrupt as often.

**""Because some old ladies cut yarn."**

**"Those weren't old ladies," Grover said. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means—the fact they appeared in front of you?" **"Of course he doesn't," Malcolm cried, "Your making things worse."

**"They only do that when you're about to ... when someone's about to die."" **"And you made it worse," Leo muttered. Jason still was jealous about Percy but why I have no idea. He had been about to die two times already- maybe more and he didn't even know he was a demigod yet.

**""Whoa. You said 'you.'"**

**"No I didn't. I said 'someone.'"**

**"You meant 'you.' As in ****_me. _****"**

**"I meant ****_you, _****like 'someone.' Not you, ****_you. _****"" **"That argument made total sense," Apollo mumbled sarcastically.

**""Boys!" my mom said." **"Technically, Grover isn't a boy," Artemis corrected. I read on before anyone could correct, snap back at, or argue with Artemis.

**"She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid—a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm.**

**"What was that?" I asked.**

**"We're almost there," my mother said, ignoring my question." **"Of course, no one answers the most important questions," Dionysus complained. 

**""Another mile. Please. Please. Please."**

**I didn't know where ****_there _****was, but I found myself leaning forward in the car, anticipating, wanting us to arrive." **"He's lucky." Everyone turned to Conner. "I mean- not really, but I had to walk to camp- and he, he gets a car ride." Even Hermes looked a little shocked.

**"Outside, nothing but rain and darkness—the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island. I thought about Mrs. Dodds and the moment when she'd changed into the thing with pointed teeth and leathery wings. My limbs went numb from delayed shock. She really ****_hadn't _****been human. She'd meant to kill me." **"That is really delayed," Annabeth complained. She had been so quiet, I had almost forgotten she was here. She looked fine, then I realized she must have already heard most of these stories before.

**"Then I thought about Mr. Brunner ... and the sword he had thrown me. Before I could ask Grover about that, the hair rose on the back of my neck. There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling ****_boom!, _****and our car exploded." ** "Really, he thought it exploded?" Grover looked surprised.

**"I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time." **"That has to hurt," Chris noted. I snuck a look at Jason. He was leaning forward waiting to hear more. He didn't look jealous anymore. He looked worried. He meet my eyes and mouthed 'sorry,' I smiled and read on.

**"I peeled my forehead off the back of the driver's seat and said, "Ow."" **"Ha- I would have said Cool!" Travis was laughing. I stared.

**""Percy!" my mom shouted.**

**"I'm okay... ."" **"Thank gods," Poseidon muttered, "At least your alive. For now."

**"I tried to shake off the daze. I wasn't dead. The car hadn't really exploded. We'd swerved into a ditch. Our driver's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in.**

**Lightning."** Poseidon glared at Zeus. "You know- I never try to kill any of your children- but noo! My children get the worst treatment, two of the Big Three are out to kill them, and the other is their dad." 

**"That was the only explanation. We'd been blasted right off the road. Next to me in the backseat was a big motionless lump." "**Love how no one cares about me," Grover cried, whipping a fake tear from his face. We cracked up.

**""Grover!" He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. I shook his furry hip, thinking, No! Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die!" **The gods cracked up. Soon all the demigods were cracking up. "Half barn-yard animal," Grover complained in disgust.

**"Then he groaned "Food," and I knew there was hope." ** That made us laugh harder. "Soo, if you say food, Percy knows there's hope," Rachel cried out between chuckles. Grover was bright, bright, bright red and mouthed, 'Keep reading, Please.' He had such a pleading look on his face I had to obey.

**""Percy," my mother said, "we have to ..." Her voice faltered. I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered rear windshield, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. The sight of it made my skin crawl." **"Does he mean literally, or just, cuz if skin could crawl, that would be TOTALLY awesome!" Everyone stared. Conner blushed like crazy. "Figure of speech," Athena said slowly staring at them.

**"It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns." ** Athena started coughing. Poseidon turned super pale. Like Nico Di'Angelo pale. "Is that- the Minatour?" Hera asked slowly. "Does he really defeat it?" Apollo questioned startled. "NIco nods. "Twice," Thalia adds. Silence. I read.

**"I swallowed hard. "Who is—"**

**"Percy," my mother said, deadly serious." "**Of course she's dead serious, your life is in danger," Clarisse explained, her voice teased a little. Annabeth had told me Clarisse liked to tease Percy, and that she actually missed him.

**""Get out of the car." My mother threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud." **"Of course," Poseidon grumbled.

**"I tried mine. Stuck too. I looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges were sizzling and smoking."** "I wouldn't try that," Thalia warned, "Unless your Jason, of course." Jason smiled slightly but was to involved in the book to take her praise seriously.

**"Climb out the passenger's side!" my mother told me. "Percy—you have to run. Do you see that big tree?""** "She doesn't think- that he'll leave her, does he?" Artemis asked.

**_"What?"_** "Okay, that is actually a very easy task. Run to the tree," Conner restated.

**"Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof I saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill." **Most of the demigods looked at Thalia briefly and I knew why. Jason had told me she used to be inside, or like she was that tree. I still don't really understand that concept. Athena noticed and raised an eyebrow at Thalia. "I used to be that tree," Thalia explained. Before Zeus, or Athena. Or anyone else could even register that information I turned the page.

**""That's the property line," my mom said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door."" **"He did follow her instructions, more or less," Chiron mussed. "I wonder if she told him not to run off on quests, if he would listen. And not get himself nearly killed." Apollo smiled. "Don't you just love quests."

**""Mom, you're coming too."**

**Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean." **"Oh great," Annabeth muttered along with a few curses, "this isn't going to go well."

**" "No!" I shouted. "You ****_are _****coming with me. Help me carry Grover."**

**"Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder." **The guys around the room gods and all started snickering. Even the girls couldn't help chuckle. Only Grover didn't look pleased. He was redder than a rose and cursing and complaining and begging for people to read on.

**"The man with the blanket on his head kept coming toward us, making his grunting, snorting noises. As he got closer, I realized he ****_couldn't _****be holding a blanket over his head, because his hands—huge meaty hands—were swinging at his sides. There was no blanket. Meaning the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head ... was his head. And the points that looked like horns ..." **"Well, he might be slow but he does understand some stuff," Athena quietly said.

**""He doesn't want ****_us_****," my mother told me. "He wants ****_you." _**"Ohh yeh. That's gonna make him feel better," Rachel chuckled slightly. ****

**_"_****Besides, I can't cross the property line."**

**"But..."**

**"We don't have time, Percy. Go. Please."**

**I got mad," **"Good" Annabeth let out a sigh of relief earning a few crazy looks from the others. "Why do you want him to be mad," Conner asked. "Last time, he badly sprained my arm, when he was mad and he was asleep." Chiron smiled. I knew Annabeth's thinking I guessed and knew the story behind Conner's badly sprained arm. 

**"then—mad at my mother, at Grover the goat," **"Hellooooo! Not a goat. Completely at least."

**"at the thing with horns that was lumbering toward us slowly and deliberately like, like a bull." **"Bullfighting," Leo cried out, "the title, Ny Mother Teaches Me Bullfighting!" Jason face palmed and I could only blink. He just figured that out now? And I'm his friend?

**` "I climbed across Grover and pushed the door open into the rain. "We're going together. Come on, Mom."**

**"I told you—"**

**"Mom! I am not leaving you. Help me with Grover."" **"Poor Sally," Aphrodite, whimpered. "

**"I didn't wait for her answer." **"Of course not."

**"I scrambled outside, dragging Grover from the car. He was surprisingly light," **"Let me try!" "NO!" "Fine. Just wait."

** "but I couldn't have carried him very far if my mom hadn't come to my aid. Together, we draped Grover's arms over our shoulders and started stumbling uphill through wet waist-high grass." **"I should cut that," Demeter noted. "Or get a gardener to do it, someone strong, who eats a lot of cereal.'

**"Glancing back, I got my first clear look at the monster." **"Does he have to describe it," Tyson complained. "He describes things to well. Especially in his sleep…." His gaze drifted over to Annabeth who turned bright red. Hahaha. Percy described her in his sleep. 

**"He was seven feet tall, easy, his arms and legs like something from the cover of ****_Muscle Man _****magazine—bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps, all stuffed like baseballs under vein-webbed skin. He wore no clothes except underwear—I mean, bright white Fruit of the Looms—which would've looked funny, except that the top half of his body was so scary. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders. His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and horns—**

**enormous black-and-white horns with points you just couldn't get from an electric sharpener. I recognized the monster, all right. He had been in one of the first stories Mr. Brunner told us. But he couldn't be real." **"yeh- Percy describes things way to well!" Leo complained. "Cuz- I am lucky I never met him and I didn't want to- the Minotaur I mean. Course I want to meet Percy."

**"I blinked the rain out of my eyes. "That's—"**

**"Pasiphae's son," my mother said. "I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you."" **"That is soo reassuring," Leo grumvled and I heard Poseidon say, "Life as a child of Poseidon is never easy."

**"But he's the Min—"" **"Don't say his name! Names have power. And we don't know if the monsters are frozen in time or if it's just the mortals." Athena looked like she was going to continue but I interrupted her.

**"Don't say his name," she warned. "Names have power."" **Athena looked shocked while Poseidon had a smug smile on his face as if to say, 'And you doubted my capability to find smart women. Well haha.'

**"The pine tree was still way too far—a hundred yards uphill at least.**

**I glanced behind me again." **"Don't do that," Katie warned.

**"The bull-man hunched over our car, looking in the windows—or not looking, exactly. More like snuffling, nuzzling. I wasn't sure why he bothered, since we were only about fifty feet away.**

**"Food?" Grover moaned." **The tension evaporated and we burst out laughing yet again due to Grover's comments. Grover buried his head in his hands and sighed.

**""Shhh," I told him. "Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?"**

**"His sight and hearing are terrible," she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough."" **Athena blinked. "Poseidon's son's mother actually knew something."

**"As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed in rage. He picked up Gabe's Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded." **"Cool!" "That's going to be bad," Rachel, corrected Nico.

**_"Not a scratch, _****I remembered Gabe saying.**

**Oops."** "Like he really cares," Thalia muttered.

**""Percy," my mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way— directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?"" **"How does she," Athena asked still confused on the knowledge level of Poseidon's old girlfriend, kinda.

**""How do you know all this?"**

**"I've been worried about an attack for a long time." **"Ahh, that makes some sense," Athena reassured herself.

**"I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me."**

**"Keeping me near you? But—"**

**Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill.**

**He'd smelled us." **"Wonderful," Annabeth muttered. She wasn't the only one who wasn't looking so well.

**"The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker, and Grover wasn't getting any lighter." **"What did he expect," Grover grumbled.

**"The bull-man closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us. My mother must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover. "Go, Percy! Separate! Remember what I said."**

**I didn't want to split up, but I had the feeling she was right—it was our only chance. I sprinted to the left, turned, and saw the creature bearing down on me. His black eyes glowed with hate. He reeked like rotten meat." **"Gross," Aphrodite complained and I had to agree with my mom.

**"He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at my chest. The fear in my stomach made me want to bolt, but that wouldn't work. I could never outrun this thing. So I held my ground, and at the last moment, I jumped to the side. The bull-man stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward me this time, toward my mother, who was setting Grover down in the grass. We'd reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side I could see a valley, just as my mother had said, and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that was half a mile away. We'd never make it." **I paused, my mouth dry. Reading so loud for so long was hard. Especially when the situation in the book was so tense."

**"The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing my mother, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover."** "Thank you, Mrs. Jackson," Grover called out. "Mrs.?" Poseidon asked. "Umm. Well yeh, she remarried after Gabe again." "Oh."

**""Run, Percy!" she told me. "I can't go any farther. Run!" But I just stood there, frozen in fear, as the monster charged her. She tried to sidestep, as she'd told me to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummeling the air.**

**"Mom!"**

**She caught my eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!" Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around my mother's neck, and she dissolved before my eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and she was simply ... gone." **Athena looked lost and everyone gave a moment of silence for Percy's mom. Annabeth had her hair covering her face so I couldn't ask her the question that was on my mind, 'How did everyone meet her? If she died?' Athena seemed to have the same question on her mind but didn't say anything.

**""No!"**

**Anger replaced my fear. Newfound strength burned in my limbs—the same rush of energy I'd gotten when Mrs. Dodds grew talons.**

**The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling my best friend, as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too. I couldn't allow that.**

**I stripped," **Poseidon raised his eyebrow and I quickly finished the sentence. Awkward.

"**off my red rain jacket." **"How is that going to heklp coward," Ares spat.

**""Hey!" I screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!"**

**"Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward me, shaking his meaty fists. I had an idea—a stupid idea, but better than no idea at all. I put my back to the big pine tree and waved my red jacket in front of the bull-man, thinking I'd jump out of the way at the last moment.**

**But it didn't happen like that." **"Of course not," Poseidon cursed.

**"The bull-man charged too fast, his arms out to grab me whichever way I tried to dodge. Time slowed down." **Thalia was leaning so far forward she fell right out of the beanbag she was sitting in.

**"My legs tensed. I couldn't jump sideways, so I leaped straight up, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck. How did I do that? I didn't have time to figure it out. A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly knocked my teeth out.**

**The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake me. I locked my arms around his horns to keep from being thrown. Thunder and lightning were still going strong. The rain was in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burned my nostrils." **"Are you sure he's gonna live, I mean beginners luck I'd say." Ares was still doubtful about Percy I guess.

**"The monster shook himself around and bucked like a rodeo bull. He should have just backed up into the tree and smashed me flat, but I was starting to realize that this thing had only one gear: forward." **Athena nodded in agreement.

**"Meanwhile, Grover started groaning in the grass. I wanted to yell at him to shut up, but the way I was getting tossed around, if I opened my mouth I'd bite my own tongue off.**

**"Food!" Grover moaned." ** "Food," Travis mimicked teasing Grover.

**"The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground again, and got ready to charge. I thought about how he had squeezed the life out of my mother, made her disappear in a flash of light, and rage filled me like high-octane fuel. I got both hands around one horn and I pulled backward with all my might. The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then— ****_snap!" _**"No way," Ares complained. "He couldn't just. No. No way."

**"The bull-man screamed and flung me through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. When I sat up, my vision was blurry, but I had a horn in my hands, a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife.**

**The monster charged.**

**Without thinking, I rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barreled past, I drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage. The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate" **"And that's without thinking," Nico rolled his eyes.

**"not like my mother, in a flash of golden light, but like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind, the same way Mrs. Dodds had burst apart.**

**The monster was gone." **Everyone was able to breath again.

**"The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open. I was weak and scared and trembling with grief I'd just seen my mother vanish. I wanted to lie down and cry, "**And he's back to being a wimp."

** "but there was Grover, needing my help, so I managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farmhouse. I was crying, calling for my mother, but I held on to Grover—I wasn't going to let him go." **"Thank you Percy," Grover whispered.

**"The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a pretty girl, her blond hair curled like a princess's." **Annabeth blushed and fingered through her hair. 

**"They both looked down at me, and the girl said, "He's the one. He must be."" **"What does that mean!?" Leo gasped. "Not what you think," Annabeth mumbled,

**""Silence, Annabeth," the man said. "He's still conscious. Bring him inside."" **Okay. I closed the book and slide it to the center. Zeus cleared his throat, probably about to ask a question but my mother beat him to it. "Oh, oh questions… Mhh. Okay. Do you have a crush and who is it on?" Zeus banged his head against the thrones armrest and called, "I get to ask the next question.

"I have a crush on Jason," I supplied and Jason called out, "Likewise." "You have a crush on yourself," Thalia asked. Jason turned bright red. "No- not what I meant, I mean I have a crush on Piper."

My mom looked pleased and gestured for the demigods to continue. Leo sighed, 'No one has been right for me yet." We laughed.

Katie, the Stolls, Rachel, Tyson all got off easy along with Malcolm. "No crush."

Clarisse and Chris had crushes on each other and Grover on his girlfriend. Thalia was a Hunter, and Nico said he agreed with Leo. Annabeth was last. Oh gods. Was she going to have to… "No crush anymore."

Aphrodite looked puzzled but I guess it wasn't a lie. "Who?"

"Umm. Well. Luke." Thalia looked away and Jason raised his eyebrows. The Stolls looked down. Hermes groaned. "I'll bite. What happened?"

"That is a story for another question."

"Then, it's time for tea!"

**Mhh. Not my best, but I like this one. Piper is; along with Annabeth and Percy my favorite character's POV to write from. So next I'm thinking a son of Hermes? Or maybe Clarisse? There is going to be a biggish gap here- I am falling behind on my other stories, big no-no, and I am leaving town for a week. If you need something to fill your time- read my other stories! ~WaterMimi23**


	6. Author's Note

FREEZE! I know everyone hates these but I think I owe you all an explanation. My family is one of those crazy ones that decides late at night that they will be flying to Germany in two days to visit my grandma. For three weeks. Long story short- I won't be able to connect to the internet there, there isn't even a computer I can use. Then I start school late, so it might be a month or so before I return. Sorry! I promise I'll update more frequently when I get back on schedule, ~WaterMimi23


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